The pair she was wearing today had required some study. Pale pink, edged with black lace, they dipped low in the back, barely covering her butt crack, but with a narrow black strip of satin that crossed from hip to hip, meeting another strip attached to the lace in a T, with a saucy little bow at the base of her spine. So unlike anything she’d ever worn before.
It seemed a shame that she was the only one who saw them or knew how pretty they were. She couldn’t stop the crazy thought that Beck should see them. She imagined his eyes moving over her, warm with admiration.
Crazy!
She drew in a long breath and let it out, then finished her food. She’d had one wild weekend. It wouldn’t happen again. She had a never-ending task list and serious goals. She jumped to her feet. She had time to get a lot more work done before bed.
Her cellphone buzzed as she moved to her desk. She peered at it. Carrie. She answered the call. “Hey, girl.”
“Hiiiiii!” Carrie’s exuberant greeting made her smile. “How are you, you crazy sex goddess, you?”
Hayden returned to the couch and sank down onto it. “Yeah, about that.”
“What?”
“It happened again.”
Dense silence met her ears. Then Carrie cried, “What do you mean it happened again? When? With someone else? Who? What is happening here?”
“No, not someone else! Jesus. I mean, Beck came over yesterday to uh…” She paused.
“Beck!” Carrie’s screech had Hayden pulling the phone away from her ear. “You saw him again?”
“Yeah. So, Saturday night, he ripped my panties—”
Carrie made a pained noise. “I really did not need to hear that. But holy hotness.”
“Yeah. So he brought over some new ones—only he brought me ten pairs! And they’re super pretty.”
Carrie whimpered.
“And then somehow with that crazy magic of his, he convinced me to go to the beach. So we walked on the beach, then went to an arcade and he bought me dinner. And then we came back here and…”
“Snogged! Omigod, Hayden!”
Hayden had to chuckle. “Snogged? Who says that?”
“I do. You can’t see me, but I’m bouncing up and down. This is so cool!”
“It’s not going to happen again. I have too much work to do to have any kind of relationship. Not that he even hinted that he wants to see me again, anyway.” Damn, that made her chest twang a little. “It just happened, like it did Saturday night. It won’t happen again.”
“Oh.” Carrie’s voice dripped disappointment. “Well, okay. At least you had a sexy weekend.” She sighed. “I was calling to tell you I can’t go out this weekend. I wanted to plan something else fun, but I have to go up to L.A. for a photo shoot.”
“Oh, that’s okay.” Truthfully, she’d be fine working all weekend too.
“But I’ll be back Sunday and we can do something then. Hey, you know what would be cool? A whole spa day.”
Oh my God. A whole day lying around doing nothing would make her crazy, when she had so much to do. But because she loved Carrie, she said, “That sounds nice.”
—
Tuesday evening Hayden was surprised to get a call from Will, one of the guys they’d met at Conquistadors Saturday night. She immediately went speechless and empty-headed.
“I had fun the other night,” Will said. “I was thinking maybe we could get together for a drink, just the two of us, and get to know each other a little better.”
He sounded nice. Confident but not pushy. Easy and natural.
She really had no desire to see him again.
Somehow explosive chemistry that tempted her into insanity appealed more than…nice.
But that explosive chemistry wasn’t going to happen again with Beck. And how did she know she wouldn’t have it with someone else unless she gave it a shot? She had to admit, the pleasure she’d experienced had been addictive. She wanted more of it. Why not go out with another guy and see what happened?
“Okay,” she said, knowing she’d probably hesitated long enough to be rude. So she added, “I’d like that.”
“Great. How would Thursday be?”
Thursday was good. Not a big “date night.” Just a casual drink. “Thursday’s good.”
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
She gave him her address, hoping she wasn’t revealing personal information to a serial killer. What? She didn’t really know this guy. Okay, she wasn’t very experienced at this dating thing.
Thursday night, Will arrived a few minutes before seven. She was ready, with Carrie’s advice over speakerphone.
“You’re sure you’re okay with me going out with him?” she asked Carrie as she pulled a top over her head.